Another solid show this week. Nothing spectacular but not a single bad spot either. Better yet, I finally get my wish of seeing Tazz & Josh commentating together. They weren't great, but they were very good with obvious potential for greatness with a bit of experience. How surreal is it to hear both commentators calling a match at the same time and even discussing psychology together?

Billy Gunn vs. Doug Basham - The Bashams double team Gunn before the match, which brings out Noble and Nidia. Tazz squashes Josh, pointing out that both Shanequa and Nidia won Tough Enough and he didn't. Normally, I could care less about Torrie Wilson but she looked hot tonight. Basham's corkscrew elbow drop is a thing of beauty. Back and forth action until Gunn hits the Famouser. Shanequa slides a chair into the ring to distract the ref and Noble tries to jump her, only to get leveled by a kick from the amazon. Meanwhile, in the ring, Danny Bashm nails Gunn with the Cat o' Nine Tails and shoves Doug out of the ring, stealing the pin.

Recap: Eddie Guerro/John Cena

Backstage, Shelton Benjamin is looking in a mirror, refusing to sell the Shanequa resemblance. Charlie Haas comes in and convinces Shelton that he should put on a wig just to settle it in his own mind that he definitely doesn't look like Shanequa. Benjamin puts on the wig to shut Haas up as Bradshaw and Farooq sneak up to the lockerroom door. Haas hands Benjamin a tube of lipstick and tells him to put it on, just to make sure, and the APA come busting in with a camera and take pictures of Benjamin crossdressing. Not one of the better skits as of late, but Haas & Benjamin's acting was up to par. With the right material, I think they'll do just fine.

Shannon Moore vs. HD Yates - Wtf? Shannon Moore on the winning side of a squash match? Not really a squash match, I suppose, since Yates does get some offense, but Moore pretty much dominates him and looks good doing it. I'm not sold on Moore's new tattoo but his new look and attitude are highly improved. He's actually coming off as a believable bad ass, as of late, instead of a clone of the drummer from Hanson. I'd really like to see Moore move up the card now, I think he could put on an awesome showing with Eddie Guerrero right now. Moore wins with a Blockbuster from the second rope.

Tajiri vs. Billy Kidman - This is a #1 contenders match to see who gets to face Rey Mysterio next week on Smackdown. A solid match, as you would expect from these two. No particular extragent spots, but there is a nice point where Tajiri goes for his springboard elbow and Kidman nails him with a dropkick to the back while the Japanese Buzzsaw is airborn. Tajiri wins by roll up after misting Kidman while the ref was down from a bump.

Recap: Undertaker defeats Big Show & Brock Lesnar to become the #1 contender for the World Championship.

The APA (Bradshaw & Farooq) vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team (Haas & Benjamin) - Better than I was expecting from these two teams. Bradshaw dominates the WGTT but they get the advantage by using tag team strategy. Bradshaw impresses me with his strength when he catches Shelton Benjamin who jumped full speed off the top rope. WGTT wins clean after Benjamin catches Farooq with a superkick while Haas holds him in position.

Four good matches, a decent skit and no Cat. They never quite explained where Ernest Miller was, just saying on a few occasions that "The Cat is telling anyone and everyone that he's moving on to bigger and better things." Could we be seeing Ernest Miller replacing Coach on Heat?

Line of the Night: Tazz, after Josh didn't understand what he was saying.. "I know you're used to working by yourself, but I'm here tonight."

-Doug Basham vs. Gunn-InVerse totally with you on Torrie tonight. Not a fan of hers at the least but she looked really nice, I like her dressing nicely and not like a cartoon character. Plus I like the whole Torrie/ Nidia/ Shaniqua thing... I've been also pretty positive on Billy Gunn since his return but this match his former self returned, the match was slow and shaky at times. Not a good match IMO.

-Moore vs. Yates- Seems like Moore is slowly getting the Mattitude Mojo and Matt is supporting him more.

-Kidman vs. Tajiri- Holy Crow what a fantastic match. I'm thinking (free)match of the week. Also like that springboard elbow but Kidman hits the dropkick. Nice use of the mist. Fun face vs. face match up even with Tajiri hitting the mist.

-Worlds Greatest TagTeam vs. APA- Ok match, Bradshaw did a good job selling the leg after it got hurt.

-OtherStuff- The Sheldon/Shaniqua thing continues, it's okay for a chuckle.

I wonder what they mean by Cat having "bigger and better things". They cannot be serious of him doing play by play. He'd be horrible... Josh and Tazz were pretty good, funny how Tazz accidently calls him Cole all the time and Josh not so accidently calls Tazz, Cat LoL. Some good stuff there.

Tazz with Josh was fabulous! Tazz was having major fun. (After all, Tazz wasn't even wearing a jacket!!) Josh was thrilled to have somebody to really get to banter with. They were calling the matches, getting in all requisite shilling, & still having a great time together. I loved it!

Early on they said something about Cat "talking about moving on to bigger & better things". Later on, during the WGTT/APA match, they said that again, but added in a little comment about "didn't show up here on Velocity." Hmmm.

Doug really got whacked legit by Billy in there -- I think Doug did about the last third of the match on autopilot. (If that's true, he did great!) I think the problem was after Billy rolled through the pumphandle, & went to kick Doug in the face. Doug was expecting that, but I'm guessing Billy missed, & got him for serious. I was looking at it in slow motion (geek that I am) & it looks to me like there's a quick edit right at the point that Billy's foot is about to contact Doug. Doug finished up, but I don't think he was 100% there!

The whole Shelton/Shanequa thing could have gotten totally useless by now, but Charlie is making it work for me! Snickering behind Shelton's back, then getting the very serious face, while convincing Shelton to put on the wig. "Being the academic scholar that I am..." Good silliness. :-)

Wasn't that Orlando who walked by with the "Hi, Charlie. Hi, Shanequa."?

Shannon, baby-kins! They've been turning him loose, letting him have some cool, good matches. I like it when they let him go.

Where have I seen this HD Yates guy before? (I would have sworn that we saw him sometime previously on Velocity/Heat, but I don't find his name either around here or on Cubs' site (thecubsfan.com). Anybody?

Tajiri/Kidman had some really nice moves, & overall was good. As InVerse & NetHack said, Kidman catching Tajiri coming off the ropes with a dropkick -- very cool. There was also a purdy, wicked-looking reverse spinning kick by Tajiri -- liked that a lot too. Lotta very nice, "convincing" near falls. They've played together before, haven't they? ;-)

I'm generally an advocate of keeping the APA backstage & in barrooms. This wasn't too bad though. Shelton & Charlie are just doing great, & putting their quickness & technique against the big, slower guys ends up being interesting. And the boys will just sell like mad. There was one badly telegraphed thing between Shelton & Farooq, but other than that, it really was a nice mixed-style match.

Maybe I was just loving everything because of loving Tazz & Josh, but I really enjoyed this show!

Wasn't that Orlando who walked by with the "Hi, Charlie. Hi, Shanequa."?

Yes it was, that might`ve been the funniest part because it was so random and goofy.

And I agree, Tazz + Josh = great. At various points, Tazz said "All Japanese are quick." because Tajiri is quick, and later admitted to crossdressing, then took it back and said he had no idea what he`d just said.

Billy Gunn, Booo! Torrie, indifference but agree she looked better than she has in a long while. Nidia continues to Rule the SD divas. Doug an Danny aren't all bad (CW tag titles anyone???) keeping Gunn from blowing up.

I have been a Sensational Shannon Moore Mark since the first day I saw him in 3count. He reminds me of a young Ric Flair. Squash that f'n jobber!

I think even DR would have to admit that TJ dragged a less than boring match out of Kidman. Nice and long and all the right spots and nearfalls. Mist always wins!

Originally posted by OndaGrandeI think even DR would have to admit that TJ dragged a less than boring match out of Kidman. Nice and long and all the right spots and nearfalls. Mist always wins! Tazz has helped Josh save this show.

kind of eh compared to their previous matches on Velocity though, although the Michinokou Driver was a nice touch.